The 60-day legislative session ended its regular session on March 10. Prior to adjournment, NACDS chain pharmacy lobbyists, independent pharmacists, the Washington State Pharmacists Association (WSPA), the Northwest Grocers Association (NWG) and the Washington Retail Association (WRA) successfully stopped ESHB 1852 from advancing, legislation that would have required directions for use and auxiliary warnings on prescription labels in both English and at least 15 languages. Rather than have this issue defined by the Legislature, the coalition will be working with the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (PQAC) to adopt rules establishing requirements for the translation of prescription drug information.
Also in Washington, on March 4, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed into law legislation capping insulin at $35. (Chapter 10, 2022/SSB 5546)
Also in Washington, the Health Care Authority (HCA) will submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services by July 15th a request to renew the Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver, called the Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP), which will allow the state to create and continue to develop projects, activities and services that improve Washington’s health care system using federal Medicaid funding. The new proposals include: continuous Medicaid enrollment for children; extending coverage for postpartum services; re-entry services for individuals who are exiting jail, prison, or other correctional facility and enhancements to long-term services and supports (LTSS).
Finally in Washington, HCA efforts aimed at increasing health care cost transparency and controlling health care cost growth include:
- The Health Care Cost Transparency Board is focusing on reducing health care cost growth and increasing price transparency.
- Prescription drug price transparency focuses on creating an annual report on how prescription drugs affect health care costs.
- The Washington State All Payer Claims Database (WA-APCD) is a tool used to collect health care claims data for reporting and analytics and to help the public make their health care decisions. The WA-APCD supports health care and payment reform while addressing the need for cost, quality and utilization transparency.
- Value-based purchasing (VBP) helps us achieve a healthier Washington by containing costs while improving outcomes, patient and provider experience and equity.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.